On this Sunday afternoon, the Baroeg in Rotterdam promised us some doom set. Basically this is the tour of the Chilean band Procession with two local bands added to the bill.

Opening is the Dutch Ortega who I had seen playing just a couple of months ago. So I already knew I wouldn’t like them much. Not a bad band tho, but I am not into the sludge doom they play. But for the style they play, it’s quite light.

How often does a Chilean band play in Europe. The only other band I can think of I have seen playing live here, is Mar de Grises. But now there are also Procession who play classic doom, not unlike big names as Solstice, Candlemass and Reverend Bizarre. They had just released their debut album “Destroyer of the Faith” which cover art reminds me more of a third rate Destroyer 666 clone btw. Anyway, it’s good to see a very young band like this picking up this genre and playing high quality too. They opened with the two first songs of the album, the short Hyperion and the title track. Mostly this songs are quite simple with a thick bass sound and lots of great melodies. Off the EP they played Raven of Disease. Followed by some more album tracks including the amazing “The Road to the Gravegarden”, Chants of the Nameless. They ended their set with the last album track White Coffin. Only to come back to play an encore of Candlemass’ classic Solitude unfortunately without Messiah, unlike their Stockholm gig. Anyway, a very promising new band on the doom horizon. A shame really that Procession didn’t headline because they really deserved it.

Actually headlining was Officium Triste, who play in the Baroeg each year and pretty much any other doom gig around here. So I had seen them often before, and all their gigs were pretty good, but on the other hand none of them were really great. They played a solid set this time too, although not faultless. The set consisted of On the Crossroads of Souls, This Inner Twist, Pathway of Broken Glass, The Sun Doesn’t Shine Anymore, My Charcoal Heart, the Anathema cover Sleepless, ending the set as usual with Goodbye. Then they came back for one final song, another cover – one I hadn’t seen them play, or ever heard before since it is only on some obscure 7″, called Headstone of the band Chorus of Ruin. So that made it a bit more interesting. Once again a solid show, but not great.